A song I've been listening to a lot recently is The World Was Wide Enough from Hamilton.

Lunch

It was only the second day of lunch detention with Carswell Thorne, and Cinder couldn't wait for the end of he week. She got there first this time, with today's school lunch, a cheeseburger.

She had already worked ahead in Pre-Calc, and there wasn't much else she could do without her computer, so when Thorne came she had no good excuse to ignore him.

Cinder saw Peony and Iko going to her her lunch. Had she told them about her lunch detention or did they think she was still avoiding them? Cress probably told them.

"Cindy." Thorne slid into the seat next to her and she groaned.

"Do not call me that," she said in disgust. What awful nickname.

Thorne took a bite of his cheeseburger. "Who do you usually sit with?"

"My cousin and sisters. And Cress."

"Cress... Cress who?"

"Cress Darnel."

"I don't think I know her."

Cinder tore open a packet of ketchup and squirted it on her cheeseburger.

"I usually sit with my friends. They sit over there." He pointed. "They're kind of boring, though." He took a bite of cheeseburger and chewed slowly. "I'm doing the fall musical."

"You are?" Cinder said in dismay.

"Yeah, in the orchestra. I play trumpet."

"I'm doing the play." She took a bite of her burger.

"In the orchestra?" He asked, glad he'd found a topic that got her talking.

"No, tech. I know people who are doing orchestra, though, and who are acting in it."

"Who?"

"Kai in orchestra, and Iko and a Winter in theatre." She took another bite of her burger.

"I know Kai, he plays sax."

Cinder nodded, mouth full.

When the bell rang, Cress gathered her trash to throw away and swung her backpack over one shoulder. She stood under the stairs, waiting for Cinder so they could walk to engineering together.

When Cress saw Cinder, she smiled, but her smile froze and her heart jumped to her throat when she saw Carswell Thorne on Cinder's heels. Thorne cut in front of Cinder as they approached and charmed Cress with a killer smile.

"Carswell Thorne, at your service." Cress bit her lip, happy and panicked.

"Don't corrupt her," Cinder ushered Cress up the stairs, but Thorne followed close behind.

"What's your name?

"Cress," she managed.

"Oh, you're Cress! Cinder was talking about you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. She said you're gorgeous, and must admit she's right."

"I never said that," Cinder denied.

"But it's true," Thorne smiled his charming smile again.

They got to the engineering classroom and left Thorne at the doorway. When they sat down, Cress slowly turned around to face Cinder.

"Cinder."

"Cress." Cinder frowned. "Oh, no."

"What?"

"Don't tell me you're falling for Carswell Thorne," she said, drawing his name out mockingly. "Ew, please don't."

"I'm not," Cress said as coolly as she could.

"Yes, you are. This is not good."

"Why not?"

"Ugh, because he's a idiot," Cinder moaned.

"Cinder, he's so cute," Cress whispered.

"Yeah, and he knows it, and he's cocky." Cinder shrugged. Cress turned back to the front, biting her lip again.

7th Period

The sub handed out worksheets at the beginning of class and spent the rest of the period at the teacher's desk, reading a book with dark and mysterious man on the cover.

They were supposed to read a four page packet about the schools in France and highlight things that were different from schools in America, but the entire thing was in French, of course, and Cinder wasn't feeling up to it, especially with Kai sitting next to her highlighting and looking so focused and cute and...

Shoot. Cinder looked back at her own paper and read the third sentence for the umpteenth time, but there were so many words she didn't understand. She skipped to the fourth sentence.

Didn't understand any of those words, either. Cinder sighed and looked up at the clock. She watched the second hand inching towards the 4, cheering for it in her head.

Eight minutes.

Kai finished reading the packet, folded it, and looked up at the clock, too. He turned to see Cinder watching the clock.

"Seven minutes and 36 seconds,"

She whispered. "34, 33, 32..."

Kai laughed softly. "Do you need a ride home today?"

She abandoned cheering the clock on to look at him, considering. On one hand, riding with him would not be good because Peony already had a crush on him, and Peony was already mad at Cinder, and Cinder didn't want to tell Peony about the drive home, so it would be easier just to walk home, but on the other hand, she wanted to ride home with him. Not that she had a crush on him, of course. But he was her friend, and not having to walk would be nice.

"Yes. Please."

"How's the packet coming?"

"I made it through four sentences," she sighed.

"Do you need help?"

"No, I'm okay. I'll figure it out at home."

"Okay."

Cinder nodded and tried to get some more highlighting in before the period ended.

Scarlet finished her packet halfway through class, having been raised in France. When the bell rang, she hurried out. She stopped at the band room to get her trumpet so she could practice. On the way to her car, she spotted Wolf.

"Hey, Wolf."

"Oh, hey." He smiled at her.

"Need a ride?"

She could not deny to herself that he had a handsome smile. And nice hair. Very nice hair.

He hesitated. "Sure."

They pulled out of the parking lot. Scarlet was tired and had a pile of homework. Only one solution to that.

"Want to stop at Starbucks?" She asked him.

"Sure."

So Scarlet pulled in at the Starbucks near their school, and they went in. There was a short line because they had gotten out of school so fast. Scarlet knew what she wanted, but Wolf squinted to see the the menu.

"Can you see it?" She asked.

"Not really..." he squinted harder.

"Do you like coffee?"

"Everyone likes coffee. Okay, I know what I want."

They ordered and went to hang around and watch the baristas make their drinks. Scarlet told Wolf he needed glasses.

"I know," he said, "I go to Millicent's marvelous antiques sometimes, because she has reading glasses and even prescription glasses too, but they're all either way not my style or way not my prescription. New glasses are expensive. It's crazy how expensive they are. Last year, my uncle went to the eye doctor, and-"

He licked his lips. "Sorry. I'm rambling."

"It's okay," Scarlet said. She'd never heard him talk that much before. It was kind of cute...